UK

Artist Barbara Rae ‘lost for words’ over damehood

Dame Barbara’s work has been exhibited around the world.

Dame Barbara is recognised as a master printmaker
Dame Barbara is recognised as a master printmaker (Picasa)

Artist Barbara Rae has said becoming a dame is unlikely to change her work and she will still be putting on her “paint-splattered overalls” to create in her studio each day.

The painter and master printmaker has been awarded a damehood for services to art in the New Year Honours.

Dame Barbara studied at Edinburgh College of Art from 1961 to 1965 and went on to teach art in secondary schools, and then lecture at Aberdeen College of Education and later at Glasgow School of Art from 1975 to 1996.

Her work has been shown around the world in both group and solo exhibitions, including at venues in Chicago, New York, Washington, Santa Fe, Oslo, Hong Kong, Dublin and Belfast.

The artist said she was momentarily “lost for words” when she first heard about the honour.

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She said: “I was in my painting studio and received a call from a woman with a lovely Irish accent, calling from the UK Cabinet Office.

“She had been searching for me for months; her office had an old address, years out of date. Her accent and politeness stopped me from replacing the receiver assuming it a scam.

“When I realised it was a genuine phone call, I was lost for words – only momentarily.”

Asked how she feels about the honour, she said: “When recommendation comes from peers and friends, it’s an honour that one can hardly refuse.”

Dame Barbara is a member of the Royal Academy of Arts and is represented by the Open Eye Gallery in Edinburgh.

Her art is held in national museums, galleries and by collectors around the world, and she has received many awards and prizes throughout her career, including the Guthrie Medal and the Hunting Group Prize.

She has honorary doctorates from the universities of St Andrews, Aberdeen and Napier.

The artist finds inspiration in travel and often heads off for weeks at a time to remote locations including the Arizona desert, and the ice floes and Inuit villages of the Northwest Passage, Baffin Island and Hudson’s Bay as well as the Scottish Highlands and west of Ireland.

She visited the Arctic four times with an Inuit guide, before mounting a major exhibition, and in 2023 visited the Antarctic.

A Barbara Rae commissioned original artwork stamp to mark the 250th anniversary of the founding of the Royal Academy of Arts was issued by Royal Mail in 2018
A Barbara Rae commissioned original artwork stamp to mark the 250th anniversary of the founding of the Royal Academy of Arts was issued by Royal Mail in 2018 (Royal Mail/PA)

Pondering on how the damehood will affect her work, Dame Barbara said: “The question only time can answer is, how will the honour change my working existence? Probably very little.

“I will still have to get into my studio in the morning and put on my paint-splattered overalls to create new work. Every day remains a challenge.”

Born in 1943 in Falkirk, the artist is now based in Edinburgh and was made a CBE in 1999.

She hopes the damehood will help raise the profile of the arts in Scotland.

Dame Barbara said: “I hope it helps to draw attention to the many talented Scots artists painting and printmaking in Scotland.

“The fact is, not enough recognition is given to Scottish artists. When a Scot is honoured, it tends to be the winner of a commercially sponsored and promoted UK-wide prize.”

Her work is currently on show in an exhibition titled Times and Places at Inverness Museum and Art Gallery which runs until January 18.

The artist’s creative output also includes portraits, tapestries, ceramics, jewellery and a Royal Mail-commissioned stamp issued in 2018 depicting Edinburgh Castle.